The Awareness Center closed. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. This site is being provided for educational & historical purposes.
We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

A former religion teacher at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center has been charged with using the Internet to solicit sex with a onetime pupil, prosecutors said Thursday.

Guy Raz, 35, was taken into custody by FBI agents and sheriff's deputies Wednesday afternoon when he showed up for a meeting with the 13-year-old girl at the Altadena public library.

Inside his car, investigators said, they found a long-stem red rose, a box of condoms and an envelope addressed to the girl.

Investigators said the girl's parents contacted them earlier this month after she began receiving sexual solicitations from Raz via the Internet.

Raz obtained the girl's e-mail address and those of other students while teaching a religion class at the temple last year, according to an investigator's affidavit.

In one message, Raz allegedly wrote: "Being a bat mitzvah is about entering womanhood. . . . And there's one aspect of that I'd prefer to show you in person."

Raz also discussed specific sexual acts and invited the teenager to come to his home in Encino but not tell her parents, investigators said.

After being shown printouts of his e-mail messages, investigators from the Southern California regional sexual assault felony enforcement team, a multi-agency task force, posed as the teenager online and carried on several more e-mail exchanges with Raz.

During one of those exchanges, Raz allegedly agreed to meet the girl in the Altadena library's ancient studies section. He was arrested after he got out of his car.

He is being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center pending a bail hearing before a federal magistrate Tuesday. If convicted, he faces a maximum 15 years in prison.

Debby Singer, education director at the Pasadena synagogue, said Raz taught there on a part-time basis during the 1999-2000 school year and as a full-time instructor the following academic year. She said his contract was not renewed when it expired in June.

ALTADENA - A former instructor at a Pasadena Hebrew school has been arrested on federal charges that he used the Internet to solicit sex from a 13-year-old former student.

Guy Raz, 35, who recently moved from Pasadena to Encino, was arrested Wednesday afternoon as he arrived at the Altadena Public Library, allegedly expecting to meet the girl for sex. The encounter had been arranged by a sheriff's detective who took over the girl's e-mail address.

"He had a card, a rose and some condoms," said Luis Li, acting deputy chief of the U.S. attorney's major crimes section.

Raz was arrested by undercover FBI agents upon his arrival at the library and refused to give a statement, says an affidavit by the detective, Christopher A. Hicks, assigned to the FBI as a special U.S. marshal.

Raz, a former teacher at the Hebrew School at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, 1434 N. Altadena Drive, made his first court appearance Thursday. He was informed that he is charged with using the Internet to encourage a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and was ordered back to court Tuesday for a bail hearing. Until then, Raz will remain in custody with no bail amount set.

The investigation began earlier this month when the girl told her parents Raz contacted her online for sex, Li said. Raz had instructed all his Hebrew students to give him their e-mail addresses so he could help them online with schoolwork, according to the affidavit.

The girl's parents notified the Sheriff's Department, which determined that the person sending messages to the girl was Raz, he said.

As Hicks interviewed the girl at her house, Raz sent her e-mail messages of a sexual nature, which the detective read, the affidavit says.

The girl believed Raz was an engineer by trade and worked part-time - and later full-time - as a religious education teacher, the affidavit states.

An Encino man pleaded guilty Tuesday to using the Internet to solicit sex from a 13-year-old female student at the Pasadena Hebrew school where he taught.

Guy Raz, 35, faces up to 15 years when he is sentenced March 11 but will probably get no more than 2 1/2 years under a plea bargain with the U.S. Attorney's Office, officials said.

Attorneys are suggesting Raz serve his time at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, N.C., which has a special program for sex offenders.

``Everybody agrees he needs treatment, and we're trying to make sure he gets treatment,'' said Luis Li, acting deputy chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office major crimes section.

Defense attorney Ronald Kaye declined to comment until after sentencing.

During Tuesday's federal court hearing, Raz admitted that he used the Internet to solicit the girl and set up a meeting with her at the Altadena Public Library. He didn't realize he was communicating with a detective from the Sheriff's Department, whom the girl's parents contacted weeks earlier.

Undercover FBI agents arrested him upon his arrival at the library.

Raz taught from 1999 to 2001 at the Hebrew School at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.

LOS ANGELES -- A former instructor at a Pasadena Hebrew school pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to using the Internet to solicit sex from a 13-year-old former student.

Guy Raz, 35, of Encino faces up to 15 years when he returns for sentencing March 11, but will probably get two to two and a half years under the plea deal, federal officials said.

That's not too different from what Raz would get if he were convicted by a jury, said a U.S. Attorney's spokesman.

Attorneys are suggesting Raz serve his time at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, N.C., which has a special program for sex offenders.

"Everybody agrees he needs treatment and we're trying to make sure he gets treatment," said Luis Li, acting deputy chief of the U.S. attorney's major crimes section.

During a hearing before U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins, Raz admitted he used the Internet to solicit the girl for oral sex, and he attempted to meet her Oct. 24 in the Altadena Public Library.

"He had a card, a rose and some condoms," Li has said.

His defense attorney, Ronald Kaye, declined to comment until after sentencing.

Raz, who taught from 1999 to 2001 at the Hebrew School at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, 1434 N. Altadena Drive, had been in custody since his arrest.

He attended the hearing at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Courthouse wearing a green jacket, blue nylon slacks and sandals. Marshals refused to remove his handcuffs as he signed the deal.

Kaye, Collins and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carole Peterson explained to Raz that he was admitting to using a facility of interstate commerce -- in this case, phone lines connecting to America Online -- to knowingly attempt to persuade, induce and entice a minor to engage in sex.

Raz had made plans to meet the girl in the library's ancient studies section, not realizing he was communicating with a detective from the Sheriff's Department, whom the girl's parents contacted weeks earlier.

A former teacher at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday for using the Internet to solicit sex with a onetime pupil.

Guy Raz, 35, who pleaded guilty earlier this year, faced up to five years behind bars under terms of a plea agreement. He was arrested in October when he showed up for a meeting with the 13-year-old girl at the Altadena Public Library.

FBI agents said Raz obtained the girl's e-mail address while teaching a religion class at the temple. His contract was not renewed when it expired in June.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

This lecture addresses the question of
whether and when Jewish law permits, prohibits or mandates that a person inform
governmental authorities of the fact that a law is violating one aspect or another
of secular law. In particular, this lecture will focus on the application of
the classical rules of informing (mesira) to modern day America and Canada,
with it's (procedurally} just system of government.

Even though Jewish law expects people to
observe the laws of the land, and even imposes that obligation as a religious
duty, the Talmud recounts - in a number of places - that it is prohibited to
inform on Jews to the secular government, even when their conduct is a violation
of secular law and even when their conduct is a violation of Jewish law. While
there are a number of exceptions to this prohibition (which are explained further
in this section), the essential halacha was that Jewish law prohibits such informing
absent specific circumstances. Even is secular government were to incorporate
substantive Jewish law into secular law and punish violations of what is, in
effect, Jewish law, Jews would still be prohibited from cooperating with such
a system. Indeed, classical Jewish law treats a person who frequently informs
on others as a pursuer (a rodef) who may be killed to prevent him from
informing, even without a formal court ruling.

The reason for the rabbinic decree positing,
that an informer (moser) is a life-threatening pursuer (rodef) is simply
stated by Rabbenu Asher. Rosh states:

One who runs to inform so that Jewish
money is given to a bandit (anas) is analogized by the rabbis to one
who is running after a person to kill him. This is seen from the verse (Isaiah
51:20) 'your children lie in a swoon at the corner of every street, like an
antelope caught in a net.' Just like when an antelope caught in a net, the
hunter has no mercy towards it, so too the money of a Jew, once it falls into
the hands of bandits, the bandits have no mercy on the Jew. They take some
money today, and tomorrow all of it, and in the end, they capture and kill
him, since perhaps he has more money Thus, an informer is like a pursuer to
kill someone and the victim may be saved at the cost of the life of the pursued.
(Teshuvot haRosh 17:1).

Eight different sets of rules can be given
that outline the general approach halacha takes.

It is prohibited to inform on a fellow Jew to a gentile,
whether the act of informing is about monetary matters or physical security.
One may not inform on a Jew even if the Jew is a sinful and bad person.

One who informs is liable to pay damages if his act
of informing damages another Even though, as a general rule one is not liable
for torts done to another by a third party, informing is an exception to this
rule.

Even without the order of a Jewish law court, one may
kill a person who has certainly set out to inform on another, prior to their
act of informing, as informing poses a danger to the one who is informed on.
Once a person informs, one may not kill the informer as punishment for the
sin and one may not steal from an informer (unless taking his property will
stop him from informing). One who regularly informs may be killed without
warning.

One who troubles the community through misconduct may
be informed on: so too one who engages in conduct that endangers members of
the community may be informed on. One who hits other people, or otherwise
engages in acts of violence against people, may be informed on.

When a Jew owes money to a gentile, and the Jew is seeking
to improperly avoid payment of the money to the gentile, and another Jew informs
the gentile of this fact who then collects the money rightfully owed to him,
that is not called informing, as the Jew who is informed on only has to pay
that which he ought to pay, anyway. Payment of taxes to the government is
exactly such a debt. Some say such informing is frowned on when it gratuitously
benefits a pagan, and others say such conduct is proper. All agree that when
such conduct leads to a desecration of God's name, it is prohibited to decline
to report such a person.

A Jew who is threatened with physical harm unless he
informs on another is not called an informer if he delivers information and
he is not liable for the damage caused. There is a dispute as to whether such
conduct is proper or simply immune from liability.

There is a dispute about whether a Jew who is threatened
with economic harm unless he illicitly informs on another is called an informer
or not and whether such conduct is permitted or not.

Many authorities rule that no liability is present if
one informs on another to save one's own property without any gratuitous intent
to hurt the other person.

Taken at face value, these rules would
prohibit a person from calling the governmental authorities when he is aware
of illicit activity by a Jew unless the informer is himself under duress to
inform, or the criminal is violent or threatening of the community, or according
to some decisors, the informer does so to protect his own property. These rules,
by their simple direct application, would prevent a person from informing on
his neighbor who is cheating on his taxes, violating non-safety related zoning
law stealing cable television from the cable company, and a host of other violations
of law. Informing on a serial killer, mugger, assaulter, child abuser, or any
other violent criminal would be permitted.

How do the halachic rules of informing
apply to a just government of laws - with non-discriminatory laws properly enforced
by police who obey the laws, and who punish people in accordance with its laws
-- is the question this section will address. This section makes certain assumptions
about the nature and operation of law that need to be stated, as this section
is predicated on these assumptions. At least four specific assumptions are posited
in this section about the nature of society and its government.

The governments of the United States of
America and of Canada and of the various states and provinces and other governmental
units are just and proper governments that do not, as a general matter, punish
people beyond the dictates of the secular law. They are not corrupt governments.

Governmental actions are not generally
motivated by an anti-Semitism, and the conduct of governmental officials is
not anti-Semitic.

As a matter of American and Canadian law,
people cannot be compelled to go to a Jewish law court (a bet din) to resolve
claims against them if they do not wish to submit to the bet din.

As a matter of American and Canadian law,
batai din are unable to adjudicate matters that require physical punishment
incarceration or restraint of people, and cannot respond in emergency situations
when force is needed.

No less than five different halachic answers
have been presented with regard to whether the prohibition against informing
applies in a just society. These five views can be summarized as follows:

The View of the Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg:
No Prohibition to Inform when Government is Just

Rabbi Yecheil Michel Epstein Aruch Hashulchan
Choshen Mishpat 388:7

Note: As is widely known, in times
of old in places far away, no person had any assurance in the safety of his
life or money because of the pirates and bandits, even if they took upon themselves
the form of government. It is known that this is true nowadays in some places
in Africa where the government itself is grounded in theft and robbery. One
should remind people of the kingdoms in Europe and particularly our ruler
the Czar and his predecessors, and the kings of England, who spread their
influence over many lands in order that people should have confidence in the
security of their body and money. The wealthy do not have to hide themselves
so that others will not loot or kill them. On all of this (the presence
of looting and killing) hinges the rules of informing (moser) and slandering
(malshin) in the talmud and later authorities, as I will explain infra: These
rules apply only to one who informs on another to bandits and so endangers
that person's money and life, as these bandits chase after the person's body
and money, and thus one may use deadly force to save oneself.

Rabbi Waldenberg, Tzitz Eliezer
19:52

Even in the understanding of the secular
court system it appears that there is a difference between primitive and enlightened
governments as is noted by the Aruch Hashulchan in Choshen Mishpat 388:7 where
it states that "every issue related to informing found in the Talmud and poskim
deals with those far away places where no one was secure in his money or body
because of bandits and pirates, even those who had authority, as we know nowadays
in places like Africa" such is not the case in Europe, as the Aruch Hashulchan
notes...I write this as a notation of general importance in the matter
of the laws of informing.

B. The view of Rabbi Ezra Batzri:
There are No Just Legal Systems and No Just Prisons

Rabbi Ezra Batzri Dinnai Momonut 4:2:5n
at page 86 writes:

Do not be surprised by the rules of this
chapter, and think they are all inapplicable nowadays since governments are
enlightened and democratic, a beacon for people to travel. This should be
thought true of only by the very naive, as even in democracies, in truth when
there is a matter that involve the government, the matter is treated as out
of the normal protocol as happens when matters relate to security of the state.
All rules of informing are applicable even currently. Anyone who knows
and understands and sees not only what is externally visible, and what previously
was, will see will see that only the external appearance has changed--but
the central characteristic [of government] has not changed. Even if they
bring all matters to court, it is clear that, through interrogation and the
police, government can destroy people and in many places they do in fact destroy
people.

Rabbi Blau. Pitchai Choshen 7:4 in note
1 writes:

Nonetheless the punishment of imprisonment
is analogous to endangering a person's life by informing on them in a way
that endangers their life, since imprisonment poses a possibility of life
threatening conditions.

C. The view of Rabbi Yitzchak Shmelkes:
informing as a Tort in a Just Government

Rabbi Yitzchak Shmelkes, Beit Yitzchak
Yoreh Deah 49(12), states:

As you wrote on the central matter of
one who informs about monetary matters nowadays, such a person does not
have the status of a pursuer, as there is no fear nowadays that such informing
will lead to danger to life, and certainly such a person is not ineligible
to serve as a witness according to Torah law....

D. The view of Rabbi Shmuel Wozner;
Informing is Permitted when Jewish law Recognizes Secular Law as Valid

Rabbi Shmuel Wozner. Shever Halevi Yoreh
Deah 58. writes;

In the matter of one who works in the
tax offices, and where he sees one who defrauds the government he has to report
him to the courts. That person wants to know if he is in the status of an
informer or "the law of the land is the law [and is thus proper]," It is clear
that according to the halacha, taxes -- without dispute or controversy-- are
covered by the obligation to obey the law of the land...On the question of
informing to the government, it is clear from the incident discussed in Bava
Mezia 83b with Rabbi Eliezer who informed on a person to the government, that
this conduct was permitted because of loyalty to the government; even though
they said to him "how long will you hand over God's nation to be killed?"
that is because this matter relates to the danger to the life of a Jew. So
too, that which Elijah recounts to Rabbi Yishmael [that he should cease informing]
is applicable, but the technical halachaappears that this matter has a benefit
to the government...See also Rama [Chosen Mishpat] 388:11 who notes that if
one wishes to flee to avoid paying a gentile what he actually owes him, and
another reveals this information, the latter person lacks the status of an
informer. Even though that Rama concludes "nonetheless, bad was done, as it
is analogous to returning the lost object to a pagan," that is limited to
returning the lost object to an individual pagan. However, that which is
relevant to the government and its designee, there is no sin [either of
informing or returning lost objects improperly]. Nonetheless, ab initio it
is better not to accept an appointment to engage in such activity, since it
entails informing on one even in a permissible way, which is not the conduct
of the righteous, as is noted in the Jerusalem Talmud Teruma 8:4..

E. The View of Rabbis Feinstein.
The Prohibition is Unchanged by a Just Government

Rabbi Feinstein, Iggrot Moshe Chosen Mishpat,
1:8 writes:

I received your letter with regard to
an evil doer who came into a kosher factory and forged the kosher symbol,
placed it on non-kosher items, which he sold to Jews as kosher. The question
is can one inform on him to the secular authorities who will judge him severely
with either a fine or prison, or must the rabbis judge him according to Jewish
law? In my opinion, even though his sin is great, and he shows no repentance,
nonetheless so long as we cannot say that the Jewish judges cannot judge him,
one may not turn the matter over to the secular authorities...In addition,
since it is certain that the secular authorities will adjudicate the matter
through incarceration or a fine inconsistent with Jewish law, one must be
fearful of the prohibition of informing, as it is prohibited to inform on
a Jew to the secular authorities, whether through danger to his body or his
money, even if he be a sinner.

Rabbi Feinstein, Iggrot Moshe Orach Chaim
5:9(11) writes:

It is prohibited for us to inform on
a person for a matter where the punishment is unfounded in Jewish law.
In Jewish law, theft is resolved through restitution as measured by an expert,
and secular law punishes through imprisonment, unfounded in Jewish law.

Subscribe to The Awareness Center's Newsletter

Translate

Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!